Find free and low-cost things to do with kids in Westchester today, March 22, including fun activities and events the whole family can enjoy. See what's going on today in Westchester's museums, galleries, and libraries for some educational fun; in the parks, for outdoor and nature activities; and in the theaters, for children's concerts and performances. Plus, get details and directions on any street fairs or holiday festivals happening March 22. For even more free and low-cost upcoming events in Westchester, check out our complete calendar of events.

After much demand, that little caterpillar is returning, along with an assortment of favorite puppet characters. The triple-bill includes the wonderful story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar's metamorphosis into a beautiful butterfly; the fanciful account of Little Cloud's travels through the sky; and the Mixed-up Chameleon's discovery of his own unique nature. The whimsical tales have enchanted several generations, and the stage adaptation teaches as well as entertains. Please note: everyone, regardless of age, must have a ticket.

These invigorating outings seek out the harbor seals and gray seals that come down into the Sound each winter. Educators aboard the research vessel Oceanic will point out these federally protected marine mammals and talk about their natural histories. They'll also help identify such winter waterfowl as buffleheads, mergansers and long-tailed ducks. Maritime Aquarium study cruises are good for ages 8 and older. Bring binoculars and plenty of warm clothes

Enjoy indoor/outdoor explorations to learn all about the sights and sounds of animals that are active at the edge of night -- woodcock and peepers. RSVP required. Call Audubon Greenwich for information, fees, and reservations: 203-869-5272 x230.

Enjoy indoor/outdoor explorations to learn all about the sights and sounds of animals that are active at the edge of night -- woodcock and peepers. RSVP required. Call Audubon Greenwich for information, fees, and reservations: 203-869-5272 x230.

Use simple shapes found in nature, like the outline of a flower or a leaf. With an easy printmaking method using tempera paint and a few simple gestures, make large-scale, bold mono-prints. Free, and admission to the grounds is free until 12pm.

The Broadway Training Center's Senior Ensemble presents Company, Stephen Sondheim's honest, witty, and sophisticated look at relationships. On the night of his 35th birthday, confirmed bachelor Robert contemplates his unmarried state. In vignette after hilarious vignette, the audience meets "those good and crazy people," his married friends, as Robert weighs the pros and cons of married life. In the end, he realizes being alone is "alone, not alive." The show won seven Tony Awards, and contains some of Sondheim's most powerful work, including "Being Alive," "Marry Me a Little," and "Barcelona." Please note, this show is rated "PG" by BTC. Reserved discount seating available online at broadwaytraining.com or by calling the ITHT box office 914-591-6602. Snow Date: Mar. 23 at 7:30pm.

Yoga for Moving Kids (with special needs). Yoga can not only aid in teaching a child focus and balance but even more important, self-acceptance and confidence. Traditional yoga poses and practices have been modified into a playful, non-judgmental format for fun and relaxation. No knowledge of yoga is necessary. No registration required. Wheelchair accessible.

"A Chorus Line" is the story of dancers auditioning for a spot in a show, all desperate for a chance to perform and to secure a job for themselves. Throughout the show, the audience gets glimpses into the personal lives of the performers and the reasons why making it on "the line" is so important to each individual.
Typically considered a show with mature content, this production is appropriate for all ages. Call 914-630-3110 for more information.

Spring has arrived at last! Explore the GNC's trails with a naturalist to see who's awake after a long winter's nap. Meet some live animals and learn how they welcome spring. Take home a craft to get spring started.

Found in estuaries around the world, oysters are a favored delicacy for humans and play a valuable role in ecosystems and economies. These unassuming mollusks have sustained Native Americans, cleaned polluted harbors, provided critical habitat, and created waterside cultures. Explore the science and natural history of oysters, particularly the Long Island Sound's native Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. November 2 - March 23, 2014.

Forty years ago American artist and abstract expressionist Cleve Gray was commissioned to create a site-specific painting for the inauguration of the Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College in 1974. Threnody (1972-73), the 22-foot tall, 250-foot long artwork in 28 panels, turned out to be an extraordinary project - a lament for the dead on both sides of the Vietnam War. At the time, college students across the country were demonstrating against the conflict in Vietnam, a war they felt to be unjust and inhumane. Gray saw the significance of the Museum's location on a college campus. An active anti-war advocate himself, Gray saw this as an opportunity to support the students and express his hope for humanity's spiritual and emotional healing.
As part of the Neuberger Museum's 40th anniversary celebration, Gray's monumental artwork will once again be on view, in "Cleve Gray's Threnody: Forty Years," organized by assistant curator, Avis Larson. Generous support for "Cleve Gray's Threnody: Forty Years" is provided by the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art and Purchase College Foundation.
Threnody features 28 contiguous panels installed in the museum's Theater Gallery, effectively converting it into a cathedral with tall vertical forms engaged in a "dance of death and life."
"Threnody considers opposites - male and female, love and hate, conflict and peace," notes Larson. She points out that Threnody continues to have an impact on viewers forty years after it was first exhibited. "In many ways we are facing similar issues relating to war and the loss of innocent lives, in addition to the many other situations we have to confront here in the United States, such as gun violence."
A "threnody" is a classical song of mourning, a lamentation. In 1975, when explaining the piece, Gray wrote: "I felt that tragedy had been manifested more intensely during those years and in the preceding decade than at any other time in American history. Iniquity, futile death, and destruction surrounded us with little relief. This sense of tragedy in the sixties and seventies insisted itself upon me as the subject matter for the walls I had been asked to paint in the Neuberger Museum, for I felt that the heroic space encompassed by these walls required a heroic subject."
Threnody marked a turning point in the artist's investigation of a radically simplified, vertical image, and the large-scale calligraphic gestures that became the hallmark of his mature paintings. To prepare, Gray created several hundred color studies and over 100 figure studies over a period of about 18 months.
About his approach to large-scale logistics, Gray wrote that he "had a 20' x 20' easel constructed...it had a hoist so that it could be raised to the vertical position." In addition, he used very large brushes, sometimes janitors' push brooms, and plastic swimming pools in which to mix his paints.
Rhythmically spaced motifs in the 28 panels suggest a diversity of imagery, and most vividly, perhaps, a procession of solemn dancers. "The depiction of tragedy often requires an element of hope, so I chose a positive red for the central figure of the 'apse' wall. Unexpectedly but inevitably this figure became the climactic point of the room. In the midst of death it had to offer the hope of life, just as blood is both the palpitating fluid of life and the fleeting evidence of death."
Larson believes that the reinstallation of Threnody "impresses upon us the need for humanity's spiritual and emotional healing as we now face the devastation of current wars and the loss of life on both sides. Threnody offers our students and the general public a place conducive to contemplation and meditation."
Threnody is part of the Neuberger Museum's permanent collection, and has been exhibited from time to time, most recently in 2007, and before then, shortly after 9/11. On view from January 12 through March 23.

An exciting dual holiday exhibit ("Hats Off to the Holidays" and "Toys Our Parents Played With") featuring vintage toys, and hats used as the settings for miniature scenes. Many of the toys may be from your own childhood, so be sure to point them out to the younger generation and reminisce over the fun you had playing with them.
Note how most of the toys on display do not have batteries and many are home made. Kids didn't need "store bought" toys or technology to have fun.
The Hat scenes were created by the nationally known miniature artist, Carole Pruzan, and husband Neal.
Explore the museum's five permanent exhibit rooms, gift shop, and research library
Hours are Sat. 1-4pm & Tue and Thur. 11- 4 pm and by appointment.
Visit yorktownmuseum.org for more information.
On display Dec, 7, 2013 through March 29, 2014.

The Pelham Art Center is pleased to announce a group exhibition of kinetic sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and video narratives by six contemporary artists. Migration Narratives will be on view from Jan. 31-Mar. 29, 2014 with an opening reception and all age hands-on workshop on Friday, January 31 from 6:30-8pm. Admission is free and open to the public.
This multi-media exhibition relates stories of individual transitions from one state of being to another. Lisa A. Banner is an independent curator and art historian who is a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
Migration Narratives are the stories of individual transitions from one state of being to another. They are stories, or narratives, that mark and divine changes in life that take place along that trajectory from one place, physical and spiritual, to another. Historical Migration Narratives are the histories of freed slaves who moved north, away from what was known and binding - slavery, captivity, oppression - to something that was completely unknown and new - self-determination, discovery, and experimentation with life. When applied to contemporary life, this concept of a migration narrative reveals the personal histories of families and individuals, as they move through and across time, to new places.
Immigration, a movement into a new place, like Migration, the movement of creatures from one habitat to another, is not determined by physical or political statements or borders, but by the inner need and determination to move, and change one's situation, be it internal or external, determined by self, or by nature.
Artists who are new immigrants, first generation Americans, or reflective immigrants to a new way of life are expressive storytellers of such personal narratives. Their stories have a broad appeal. Monika Bravo, Erika Harrsch, Timothy Hawkesworth, Maria Noel, Eliana Perez, and Christopher Smith reflect differing ways of seeing these migrations of people through time, and through states of being. Their work is expressed in kinetic sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and video narratives.
About the Curator
Lisa A. Banner is an independent curator and art historian who is a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She has published several artist interviews with Site95 Journal, in addition to extensive publications on Spanish Baroque art in Master Drawings, and a recent catalog of Spanish Drawings in the Princeton University Art Museum (Yale University Press, 2013). As an independent curator she has worked on shows for The Frick Collection, the Museo del Prado, and other venues. Banner has also been a Research Fellow at the National Gallery of Canada, and Samuel H. Kress Curatorial Fellow at The Hispanic Society of America. Recently, she curated several contemporary art exhibitions, including "Light Matter," and "Vital Signs: The Enigma of Identity" at the Pelham Art Center, as well as a series of installations in the Great Hall at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and a forthcoming exhibition in the Schafler Gallery at Pratt Institute.
Pelham Art Center, 155 Fifth Ave., Pelham, NY 10803. 914-738-2525. info@pelhamartcenter.org.
Hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 10-5pm; Saturdays, 10-4pm.
Directions: Located five blocks from the Hutchinson Parkway exit 12, and two blocks from the Metro North Pelham stop.
These events and programs are made possible, in part, by the ArtsWestchester with funds from Westchester County Government. Pelham Art Center also receives funding from: New York State Council on the Arts, A State Agency; Westchester Jewish Community Services; Nurses Network of America; Town of Pelham; Strypemonde Foundation; New York Multi-Arts Centers Consortium; New Rochelle Campership Fund; Bistro Rollin; Robin's Art+Giving; Nycon; Junior League of Pelham, Amani Charter School; Prospect Hill Lunchtime Enrichment; Yellowbook; Members; and Annual Fund Donors.

Fondue dining allows everyone to enjoy good conversation, eat slowly, and savor each bite. Parents can enjoy three-course meal (salad, entree, and chocolate), and kids under 14 can have two courses (entree and chocolate), all for a fixed price every Sunday in March from 12-4pm. Visit meltingpot.com/white-plains/specials for details.

Every Saturday, Straight A's invites kids of all ages to enjoy free arts and crafts. Drop in any time between 1-3pm, no reservation necessary.
March 1: Make a hungry counting caterpillar
March 8: Celebrate March by making a Lion and Lamb Mask
March 15: Craft your own Good Luck Shamrock Charm
March 22: Make a Weather Wheel to track the spring weather
March 29: Create a Baby Lamb Puppet to celebrate spring

Mystified by math? Puzzled by a project? Homework help is here! Stop in and see a certified teacher. Homework help is available March 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, and 31. Check out the library's FROG BLOG for more programs and information at fieldkids.wordpress.com.

Clay Art Center is pleased to present TeaTime, a national invitational exhibition, featuring functional and sculptural teapots by invited artists, and an exploration of tea and its relevance in a global culture. The exhibit, curated by Caitlin Applegate and Leigh Taylor Mickelson, will highlight the teapot and its ceremonies which are found worldwide, and will run from Feb.1 through Apr. 1, with an opening reception on Sat., Feb. 1, from 5-7pm. Admission is free.
In addition, CAC will be hosting several programs to enrich the exhibition, including workshops, historical lectures, a panel discussion and several educational programs. The Shop at CAC will feature handmade works by CAC and invited guest artists.
Featuring 70 contemporary ceramic artists, TeaTime will highlight the teapot and tea-set, whose forms and related ceremonies have inspired artists for centuries, and continue to be a valid form of expression in studios of contemporary artists today. Artists will explore tea traditions and redefine what tea is in our contemporary culture. What will bring the exhibition together is Tea - its rich history, its place in our lives, and its influence in contemporary ceramics.
In conjunction with TeaTime, Clay Art Center will explore clay and its relationship to tea with its global pervasiveness, in a series of events and educational programs occurring throughout the duration of exhibition. Semester-long adult and children's classes and two shorter workishops will also be presented in conjunction with this exhibition.
Clay Art Center is a not-for-profit ceramic art organization offering exhibitions, clay classes for adults and children, studio spaces for clay artists, and outreach programs in the community. It is located in the heart of Port Chester at 40 Beech Street, Port Chester, NY 10573. Gallery and SHOP hours are Monday through Saturday, 10am-4pm or by appointment. For more information, please contact Caitlin Applegate at caitlin@clayartcenter.org or 914-937-2047.

This film invites the audience to follow along with a daring team of "storm chasers" as they work to understand the origins and evolution of tornadoes. Sean Casey, star of the Discovery Channel's "Storm Chasers" reality series, leads this mission to document one of Earth's most awe-inspiring events - the birth of a tornado. Through April 3, 2014.

Join millions of real butterflies on an amazing journey to a remote and secret hideaway. Weighing less than a penny, the monarch butterfly makes one of the longest migrations on Earth. Follow the monarchs' perilous journey to the remote mountain peaks of Mexico in this 3D film. For the first time ever, witness the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly, inside a chrysalis, thanks to advanced MRI and micro CT scans.
The award-winning production team, including Oscar-winner Peter Parks, followed the year-long migration cycle of the monarch butterflies, from Canada, through the United States to remote 10,000-foot-high peaks in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.
The film has won numerous awards including the 2013 Grand Teton Award in the category of Best Immersive 3D/Large Format at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and awards at the 2013 Giant Screen Industry Awards, including Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Film for Lifelong Learning, and Best Educational Program.

In this immersive, entertaining, and family-friendly exhibition, people of all ages will discover how animals, including humans, adapt to living in the dark. The show features natural dioramas of caves, deep soil, nighttime forest and desert, along with mechanical, electronic and digital interactives. This exhibition is organized by the Cincinnati Museum Center. January 25-April 13, 2014.

The Maritime Aquarium is turning conventional beach wisdom upside down, by inviting its visitors to do something they've been told not to do all their lives: touch a jellyfish. This special exhibit will let visitors safely touch live moon jellyfish, one of the most common species in Long Island Sound. Open weekends, holidays and school vacation weeks January 18–April 20.

Bright swaths of vibrant colors transform the Katonah Museum of Art's exterior in its newest outdoor exhibition, "Six Ladders," by artist Andrea Lilienthal. Lilienthal created a series of giant bamboo ladders for the Museum's stately Sculpture Garden that are whimsical and enigmatic; their brilliant colors electrify the natural surroundings.
Five ladders, with their cheerful colors and playful patterns, lean against the Museum's enormous spruce trees in various positions and at different angles. On the building's facade, a sixth, 30-foot ladder extends just short of the roofline - its form and ribbons of color energizing the wall and lending sculptural dimension to the flat expanse. Each of the ladders are hand-constructed from sturdy commercial bamboo, harvested in China, and painted with high-gloss outdoor enamel paint from Holland. Their surfaces are smooth and reflective, in contrast to the course-textured tree bark.
According to Katonah Museum of Art Curator Ellen Keiter, "These are not functional structures - their bottom rungs are too high to mount and the ladders fail to reach the top of their intended destinations. These are instead beautiful works of art; Andrea Lilienthal responds to the inherent geometry of ladders and the repetitive rhythm of their rungs. She finds beauty in their simple, minimalist construction."
"Lilienthal's ladders instill a sense of wonder and suggest that seemingly unreachable goals can be attained," she says.
Keiter explains that bamboo is a hollow-stemmed, woody plant that "bows, sways, and splits, so slight imperfections, even substantial cracks, add distinctive character to each ladder. No two ladders are painted the same, yet their similarly saturated hues coalesce into a lively visual harmony."
She adds, "The bands of luscious color wrap around the bamboo like candy confections, and bright confetti patterns alternate with stark black-and-white designs. A causal link exists between the artificial colors and the natural bamboo. On one ladder, Lilienthal painted white rings around the growth nodes of the bamboo; on another, the nodes demarcate the lengths of painted blue and orange sections."
Says Lilienthal: "These magnificent and mysterious trees [at the Katonah Museum of Art], whose tops are not even visible, dwarf the people and furniture below. In response to their super scale, I chose the ladder, a form with human scale and multiple readings: utilitarian ancient, mythic, and universal. The severe and stately trees support the bamboo ladders in an implied partnership; rooted and stable, the trees assist the ladders in their attempt to ascend. But ultimately, how do you mount an 80-foot Norwegian spruce tree? My answer was to climb it with imagination, affirming our connection to the natural world."
Lilienthal has used bamboo in her artistic practice for several years. In earlier installations, she aligned multiple painted, wrapped, or taped bamboo poles along a wall - works awash in color, but still relatable in size. However, her current exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art is in keeping with the majesty, diameter, and spacing of the giant spruce trees.
Adding to the intrigue of this exhibition are enlarged photographs of the Garden's spruce trees displayed in the Museum's two west windows adjacent to the lone 30-foot ladder. On first impression, the images appear as reflections. In this way, Lilienthal reinforces the relationship between the ladders and the trees while further playing with the viewers' perceptions and expectations.
Historically, ladders carry rich and universal associations. In many faiths and fables, ladders are a symbol of ascent, of travel, of reaching upward. In modern times, they represent progress and growth, allowing us to reach higher than we would otherwise be able to go. Ladders symbolize elevation: from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge, and from the material to the spiritual. They are featured in art from prehistoric cave paintings to contemporary times. Jacob's Ladder, the metaphysical passage between heaven and earth, is mentioned in the first book of the Bible, and is represented in such disparate media as Renaissance paintings and popular
video games. There is a popular African-American spiritual, "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder," Eric Carl's beloved children's picture book, "Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me," and innumerable colloquialisms regarding "the ladder of success."
On view through April 21, 2014 during Museum hours: Sundays: 12-5pm; Tuesdays through Saturdays: 10am-5pm. Closed Mondays.

A mosaic of classic and exotic orchids greets visitors in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory - a living design inspiration taking its cues from a modernist Key West estate garden. Throughout the exhibition, varied events and activities capture the artistic and cultural appeal of the Keys through live weekend music, a curated poetry walk, Orchid Evenings, and more.
During The Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary, step out of the bustling city and into the Florida Keys, where the dramatic beauty of a flourishing tropical garden is amplified by vibrant architecture to recall this particular island's charm and ambience. The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory's sprawling glasshouse galleries are transformed into a modernist Key West estate garden inspired by a garden originally designed by award-winning landscape architect Raymond Jungles for Susan Henshaw Jones, who is President of the Museum of the City of New York, and Judge Richard K. Eaton. Immerse yourself in an effusion of orchids blooming among still, geometric reflecting pools, soaring angular pergolas, and sleek benches.

Step into the EcoHouse, a mobile, cutting-edge exhibit that lets visitors see behind the walls and underneath the floor of a home. Visitors can see how their house or apartment really works and learn how to save energy, save money and protect the natural world around you. EcoHouse is on display through April 14.

This special documentary art exhibit is a collaborative project by high school students from all over Westchester County who are taking on the challenge to photograph as many plastic bags on the loose in their environment as they can with just one camera in two hours. To participate in the project and/or contribute artwork, contact Braeden at bcohen@greenburghnaturecenter.org. All are invited to the free exhibit opening on Mar. 1 at 4:30pm. Indoor exhibit hours: Mondays-Thursdays 9:30am-4:30pm; Weekends 10am-4:30pm. Exhibit runs through April 30.

E.L. Doctorow's novel comes vividly to life in this Tony Award-winning musical, set against the backdrop of the ragtime craze in New York City and New Rochelle. The production intertwines the stories of three families as they confront timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in turn-of-the-century America.
Musical styles range from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the Lower East Side, from bold brass band marches to delicate waltzes, from up-tempo banjo tunes to period parlor songs and expansive anthems. Featured are such show stopping songs as "Getting Ready Rag," "Your Daddy�s Son," "Wheels of a Dream," "Till We Reach That Day," "Back To Before," and "Make Them Hear You." It won 1998 Tony Awards for Best Score, Book, and Orchestrations, and won both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score.
A Standing Ovation Studios Production.

Self-described "visionary" artist Forrest Bess (1911-1977) is a unique figure in the history of American art. He eked a meager living fishing and selling bait by day in Bay City Texas, while, in his free time, he read, wrote, and painted prolifically. He created an extraordinary body of mostly small-scale canvases rich with enigmatic symbolism based on symbols he saw in his dreams. Bess drew meaning for these symbols from various disciplines such as medicine, psychology, anthropology, and philosophy, eventually formulating a theory, which he referred to as his "thesis," that the unification of male and female within one's body could produce immortality.
Despite his remote location, Bess gained recognition in the New York art community, showing his work between 1950 and 1967 with the prominent artist and dealer Betty Parsons. "Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible" is organized by the Menil Collection, curated by Assistant Curator, Clare Elliott, in collaboration with contemporary artist Robert Gober, expanding on a project he created for the 2012 Whitney Biennial. It will feature a selection of over 40 paintings, along with rare works on paper and selected letters, and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue. At the Neuberger Museum the exhibition is organized by Chief Curator Tracy Fitzpatrick.
Through May 14.

One of the first major exhibitions to explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, "The Art of Video Games" focuses on the medium's striking graphics, creative storytelling, and player interactivity.
Organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the exhibition travels to the Hudson River Museum for its only appearance in the New York Metro area, from Feb. 15-May 18.
"The Art of Video Games" features the most influential artists and designers across five eras of game development, from early pioneers to the contemporary artists, who created some of the best games for 20 gaming systems that range from the Atari VCS to PlayStation 3.
Video games - a compelling and influential form of narrative art - use player participation to tell stories and engage audiences in the same way as film, animation, and performance. The exhibition features 80 video games selected with the help of the public to demonstrate the evolution of the medium. The games are presented through still images, video footage, and video interviews with developers and artists, historic game consoles, and large prints of in-game screen shots.
Five featured games are available for visitors to play (Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower), which show how players interact with the virtual worlds, highlighting the innovative techniques that set the standard for many subsequent games.
"Video games are a prevalent and increasingly expressive medium within modern society," said Chris Melissinos, former chief gaming officer for Sun Microsystems, founder of Past Pixels, and guest curator of the exhibition. "In the 40 years since the introduction of the first home video game, the field has attracted exceptional artistic talent. Video games, which include classic components of art, offer designers a previously unprecedented method of communicating with and engaging audiences by including a new element, the player, who completes the vivid, experiential art form by personally interacting with the game elements."
Visitors to the exhibition are greeted by excerpts from selected games projected 12 feet high, accompanied by a chipmusic soundtrack by 8 Bit Weapon and ComputeHer, including "The Art of Video Games Anthem," recorded by 8 Bit Weapon specifically for the exhibition. An interior gallery includes a series of short videos showing the range of emotional responses players have while interacting with games.
The Smithsonian invited the public to help select the video games in the exhibition. A pool of 240 games was selected by Melissinos and an advisory group consisting of game developers, designers, industry pioneers, and journalists. More than 3.7 million votes were cast by 119,000 people in 175 countries.
"The Art of Video Games" is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with generous support from the Entertainment Software Association Foundation; Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins; Shelby and Frederick Gans; Mark Lamia; Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk; Rose Family Foundation; Betty and Lloyd Schermer; and Neil Young. Promotional support is provided by the Entertainment Consumers Association. The C.F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum's traveling exhibition program, "Treasures to Go."
On view through May 18, 2014.

Every Saturday and Sunday from 1-4pm through May 18, the Hudson River Museum's Video Arcade hosts the best gaming in the world from XBox 1 and Wii U to PS 3 and arcade machines. Visitors are invited to go solo, challenge a friend, or play games on their own handheld devices. Games list: Wii U: Super Mario 3D World, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Rayman: Legends; Xbox One:
Lego Marvel SuperHeroes, Angry Birds Star Wars; PS3: Little Big Planet, Worms: Armageddon, Flower.

The science behind the perception of color is explored in this two-part exhibition. Colossal black charcoal drawings on white velum capture the intricate details of two precious natural resources: bison and trees. Artist Rick Shaefer, from Fairfield, juxtaposes the majesty and frailty of nature in his life-size renditions with an injection of humor from his crows: a cast of characters atop a fence. The second part of this exhibition involves twenty stunning, full-color, high-resolution images of the sun demonstrates the color spectrum of light. QR codes allow visitors to scan and learn more about the dramatic images captured by NASA scientists ? some of which have been "modified" to suggest familiar forms and images. The brainchild of Dr. Steele Hill, a media specialist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; the images showcase the incredible details of the sun in a unique way. An interactive light box allows visitors to mix color shadows with body movement to experience the range of color in the light spectrum. Our world is awash in color and light, highlighted by the nuances of shadow, contrast and darkness. How does the light from the sun influence the way we perceive color? How is our imagination challenged by black and white imagery? These questions are explored in our exhibition, Black, White, Color, Light. March 22-May 27, 2014.

Drawn from the permanent collection of the Bruce Museum, private collectors, area museums, and the trade, this exhibition speaks to the quality and beauty of this perennially popular art and celebrates Connecticut's role as the birthplace of American Impressionism. Tour Connecticut's landscapes through the canvases of American Impressionist artists including Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, Leonard Ochtman and others. March 22- June 21, 2014.

No other modern animal may command both fear and fascination as much as the great white shark ? but The Maritime Aquarium's new IMAX?film suggests, instead, that these predators mainly need help and respect. This film unravels the mystery of the creature by telling the true story of its role atop the oceanic food chain. "Our mission is to change people's attitudes toward the great white," said Steve McNicholas, co-director of the film. "It's not the menacing, evil predator it's made out to be. It's simply performing its crucial role at the top of the ocean's food chain. Great whites are not monsters any more than the polar bears or lions that we revere." The 40-minute film takes viewers around the world to great-white hotspots and examines the animals through the eyes of several people whose lives and work have become inextricably linked to the great white, including shark expert Michael Rutzen, who openly scuba dives among them. October 11-April 3, 2014.

HVCCA's 2013-2014 exhibition features works that lend themselves to narrative interpretations. The selected artists employ traditional art materials as well as new technology, video, and performance to look to art as addressing the very core of our everyday lives, our "weltanschauung."
In an increasingly fast-moving era, and as explored in "Art at the Core," the world of art and culture bridge artistic disciplines - painting folds into sculpture, sound, light, video, and performance. Performance, enhanced by installation and often video, asserts itself as an art form, not in the narrative traditions of opera with its stage design, but in a contemporary format that defies traditional descriptions.
The eclectic selections from the works of the 23 artists exhibited at HVCCA, bring about a show that is riddled with complexities, manifesting diverse approaches to identity, society, culture, and materiality, and dedicated to the intersection and melding of life and art. See more at hvcca.org/current-exhibitions/#sthash.R8DPX2vt.dpuf. On view through July 27, 2014.

Meerkats are members of the mongoose family that live in social ?mobs? in the Kalahari Desert, in the southern African nations of Botswana and South Africa. No mere cats, meerkats are fascinating for living in structured but cooperative societies, including a foraging strategy where adults take turns standing guard upright on their hind feet, watching for predators, while the others eat.
The meerkats? exhibit offers opportunities for climbing, digging and exploring, with several feeding locations to keep them on the alert for incoming crickets. A viewing bubble lets visitors pop up right among the meerkats. February 1-December 31, 2014.

Visit the toy boat-making area on weekends for a fun 20-minute boat-building project. Build and decorate a toy sailboat to take home as a special keepsake of your visit. Saturdays and Sundays year-round.

Explore the aquatic wonders of Africa, including amazing fish from the Nile River, the lakes of Africa's Great Rift Valley and the Red Sea. Species highlighted include exotic air-breathing lungfish that can survive for a year if their waterhole goes dry, and colorful cichlids and coral reef species that shine in shimmering rainbows. January 1 2014 - December 31, 2015.

Academy-Award winner Morgan Freeman lends his voice to this film which follows orphaned baby orangutans and elephants, and the people who rescue and raise them for eventual release back into the wild. Through April 3,2014.